Page 97 of Witch Untold
It was late, almost midnight, the perfect time to enter because it would be busy. Perfect cover for us when we broke from the main group and headed for the hidden door.
The parking lot was filled with humans dancing, drinking, chatting. I took the lead as we reached the main doors and held out my VIP tickets to the bouncer with a smile.
“Hi, I was given these the last time I was here.” I looked over my shoulder at Sloane and the other witches. “The guy said I could bring some friends?”
The bouncer studied the tickets, then muttered something into his walkie before handing them back to me.
“One moment,” he said gruffly. “Please step to the side.” He ushered us to a spot beside him, away from the main queue of patrons desperate to get in.
Shit. What was this? Had we done something wrong. No. Stay calm. Wait.
An agonizingly long minute passed as the bouncer let humans through. I caught Sloane’s eye and she returned my gaze with a flat look.
She’d been flat ever since we’d met up earlier. She’d barely looked at me, spoken to me. Yeah, it hurt. A lot.
I missed her.
I missed our camaraderie and banter, but right now I needed to focus on the guy who was coming toward us. The same guy who’d given us the tickets, the one possessed by a revenant who’d infected us with his ability to incite conflict and turned us against each other.
“Hi!” I simpered. “I’m so sorry we couldn’t make it last week.”
“Oh, that’s no problem.” He gave me a twinkling smile. “The VIP room is available.”
“Oh, great.” Sloane slipped her arm around my waist, pulling me against her side.
It was the first contact we’d had in ages, and my pulse sped up.
“Follow me,” the revenant in human skin said.
We followed him past the bouncer and into the club. Bodies bounced and gyrated to the same old popular tracks, and it took a moment for my senses to adjust. Everything seemed too loud, too brash, setting my teeth on edge.
Sloane dropped her arm from my waist but took my hand as we wove through the crowd using the human revenant as a guide. My mind went back to the last time we’d been here. We’d been undercover, up close and personal, acting the couple, and despite the danger there’d also been a thrill. But not this time. This time an icky feeling swirled in the pit of my belly.
We stepped through an arch, past a set of double doors, and into a room with cushy booths, its own bar, and a dance floor.
My skin prickled, and the unease in my stomach intensified. Only when the buzz under my skin died did it hit me that it had ever been there.
My magic.
My connection to my powers.
It was gone.
Something was wrong.
I turned to Sloane and caught movement behind her—men closing the doors.
Warlocks?
“What the heck?” Poppy moved closer to us. “I can’t feel it…”
She couldn’t feel her magic either.
Confusion rippled over the gathered witches as they probably realized the same thing. Alarms went off in my head, and as the revenant in human skin turned to face us with a smug smile, realization dawned.
This was a trap.
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